There were some good players — the receiving duo of John Jefferson and James Lofton, the badassedness of Tim Harris, the beginning of one of the best ever in Sterling Sharpe, and the Majik Man himself, Don Majkowski.

More or less, the ’80s sucked it up, though. Bart Starr was not a coach. Forrest Gregg was not Vince Lombardi, regardless of how he tried to replicate his style. Lindy Infante was an offensive genius, but he ran a country club as a locker room.

The worst thing about the ’80s Packers was the personnel decisions, though.

In theory, bad teams should get better through the draft. High picks equal better players.

Somehow, the Packers, despite being near the bottom of the league throughout most of the decade, managed to disprove this theory. In the ’80s, the Packers personnel department made some of the worst draft picks in the franchise’s history.

What’s worse is, the coaching staff could never seem to develop anyone the team chose.

Nowhere is this more in evidence than the Packers’ draft class of 1981.

I’ve come to believe the saying shit runs downhill and it seems an appropriate analogy for the Packers in the 1980s. The team’s second draft in the decade set the tone for what was to come — a decade of ineptitude, from the top of the organization on down.

The Packers owned the No. 6 overall pick in the ’81 draft, with which they selected Cal quarterback Rick Campbell.

Campbell was a stud at Cal. He played four seasons for the Packers and never rose above the No. 3 spot on the depth chart. After his rookie season, offensive coordinator Bob Schnelker said Campbell had neither the arm strength nor the skill to play in the NFL.

Either the Packers didn’t properly develop Campbell or Schnelker was right. The team traded Campbell to Oakland before the ’86 season and he never played another NFL game. He didn’t start one game for Green Bay.

It didn’t get any better for the Packers later in the ’81 draft, unfortunately. Here are their remaining picks and their career stats with Green Bay.

In total, here’s what the Packers got out of their 1981 draft class: 48 starts (plus a punter who kicked in 25 games), 386 yards and three touchdowns passing, 285 yards and one touchdown receiving, 7.5 sacks, three fumble recoveries, a couple bad punt returns and some mediocre blocking.

To say the tally is pathetic would be an understatement. To say the draft class was pathetic would be even more so.

Granted, the NFL wasn’t quite the animal it is today back in the beginning of the Reagan era. Scouting wasn’t as sophisticated. Coaching staffs weren’t as large. In Green Bay, people were still attached to the way Lombardi did things and the names they associated with that success.

Thankfully, things have changed.

The 1981 draft may not have ruined the entire decade for the Packers. There were certainly other factors at play — poor leadership both on and off the field being chief among them — but it certainly didn’t help.

Can you think of another draft where the Packers — where anyone — has struck out on every single choice?

I can’t, and it would be a recurring theme of the Packers’ drafts throughout the 1980s.

We’ll delve more into some of the other Packers’ ’80s draft busts later this week.

Funny thing is, as much as Packer fans might bemoan the 80s, the team was never really that bad. The Packers were 8-8 or thereabouts nearly the entire decade. So, more like a decade of mediocrity than complete crap.

The Packers usually had either a good offense or a good defense, but never both. That was the problem.

I seem to remember that Rich Campbell threw the wounded duck pass that led to the winning touchdown against the Bears in 1984. That was when the Bears were beating the Pack almost every game. Campbell may have had only one moment of glory in his NFL career, but at least it came against the Bears.

I think the draft was a huge problem in the 80’s but the Pack did have some elite players. Lynn Dickey was a extremely underrated QB. In 1982, with Lofton, Jefferson and Coffman, the Offense was almost unstoppable. The problem was the defense could not stop my grandma from scoring a touchdown. If the packers had any kind of reasonable D, they would have been much better in 1982 and 1983. Bart Starr would not have been fired. The problem with the Packers for a long time, up until Ron Wolf was hired, is that they did not have one person running the football operation side. Someone with totally authority. The Packers were run by committee. Imagine how it was for me living in Chicago in the 80’s, with the Pack sucking for most of the years after 83 and the Bears being so dominate.

I would have to agree that the Packers 81 draft was not stellar but I have to correct you on one thing. The 12th round pick actually was a good selection: Cliff Lewis LB from Southern Miss. I am very familiar with his story.

First of all, most 12th round draft picks don’t make the team and they certainly don’t hang around for four seasons. Lewis was a natural inside linebacker and that’s what he was drafted as. He was switched to OLB in his rookie season so there was a huge learning curve.

Secondly, while trying to learn a new position he was on the depth chart behind Mike Douglas. At the time Mike Douglas was one of the better OLB’s in the game. Lewis pressed Douglas hard for the starting position but could never really upseat him. He was able to start a few games and actually came up with a Key sack on Jim McMahon during a rare Packers victory over Da Bears.

Nevertheless, Lewis was a standout on special teams for four seasons and then was cut under Forrest Gregg during the 85 training camp and never played again.

In conclusion, he had a pretty good career for a 12th round pick. Very few last round draft picks stay in the league for four seasons.